Jaevion Nelson | Workplaces are not prisons

I don’t think people realise how ridiculously restrictive many workplaces can and tend to be or how they stifle productivity while herding workers like cattle.

It saddens me that for so many, signing a contract for desperately needed work is like signing over your life. It’s like you become their property, another asset they monitor every second and think they can do whatever they choose with you because you are ‘obligated’ to them.

Earlier this week, there was a heated discussion (as usual) on my favourite social media platform, Twitter, which was sparked by a tweet complaining that doctors are providing sick leave for persons who are in fact not sick. There is quite a bit we can discuss about this situation, including professional integrity and abuse by workers, but I want us to focus on the state of affairs that might have caused this practice to be so commonplace and normalised.

Many argue that what is being done is disingenuous and that there should be some kind of penalty for those who are guilty of this breach. They suggest that if people need time, they should just use their vacation days. I honestly wish this kind of practice was not a thing, but there must be a reason for this, and the blame can’t solely be directed at those obtaining and providing sick leave.

But why is this about sick leave or vacation leave? Why can’t an employee easily get some time off, an hour or two, to take care of personal business or simply get a break simply because they need it to recharge, and take care of themselves to be healthy and productive?

Why do people insist on forcing people to sit at work all day, as if merely doing so will yield results consistently? It’s well known that more time spent at work doesn’t guarantee high levels of productivity. Diminishing returns is more probable. Ultimately, these rigid and sometimes inhuman practices cause the health and wellness of workers to deteriorate.

OBLIVIOUS ABOUT STATE OF AFFAIRS

Quite frankly, I found the holy righteous moral pulpit from which many people entered the debate to be particularly draining. Some of these persons, who did not even challenge themselves to understand the plight of those who might seek to use sick leave to get some paid time off from work without taking a vacation, appeared to be people who work in and are benefiting from spaces where there are flexible arrangements.

It’s rather uncanny that many of these people study human resource management and other related areas to develop and/or hone skills in supervision, staff relations, preventing burnout, engender productivity, etc., but spend so much time doing the complete opposite when those skills are actually needed.

I realsed from the discussion that quite a number of people who comment on these issues are painstakingly oblivious about the state of affairs in the country and the condition under which many people work – those at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder especially.

I admit that, save for the month at the Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ) as an administrative assistant, six months at The Gleaner Co Ltd as a junior reporter and two months at Digicel Foundation as communication and social media executive, I barely have experience in the private sector. But I don’t think I need to be laden with years of experience to express an opinion on the matter or understand the needs of those who have resorted to exploiting sick leave to rest or conduct their personal business.

We should interrogate the structures that are in place that cause so many people to lie about being sick when they possibly are not. We should query why employees feel they have to lie to their bosses and supervisors to get some personal stuff done. Employers need to understand that their employees can be productive without treating them as though they are in a prison and need to be restricted and policed 24/7 inside and outside of work, regardless of expected duties and position. We can do better. We need to do better.

Finally, as we are on this subject, what is it going to take for us to realise that we desperately need new arrangements for workplaces? The traffic situation in Kingston makes it very clear that we need to embrace an approach that would allow people to work on flexi-time, as all of us don’t need to be at work and on the road at the same time every single day, and that would allow people to work from home some days for the month, if their position and duties allow.

Can we commit to finding solutions to the challenges faced by individuals in the workplace and adopt more humane practices to encourage commitment, discipline and productivity?

Jaevion Nelson is a human rights, social and economic justice advocate. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and jaevion@gmail.com or tweet @jaevionn.